Abstract
The paper aims to provide a systematic overview of the barriers and enablers that contribute to the success or failure of collaborative workplaces initiatives aimed at fostering innovation in service companies. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with innovation managers, human resource managers and facility department executives from a sample of multi-national service companies. Its primary focus is on the workplace initiatives carried out in their Spanish subsidiaries. The paper contributes to the extant research by identifying a conceptual model for collaborative workplaces and by providing a systematic overview of the related barriers and enablers. From the interviews, these factors were organized within a framework usable by practitioners for analysis. This paper is of interest to companies that aim to design collaborative workplace strategies to justify associated investments. It can also provide their managers with guidelines to lead the company in the transition toward new ways of working based on higher employee collaboration and flexibility.
Highlights
Digital technologies have driven new patterns of collaboration within companies
The paper aims to provide a systematic overview of the barriers and enablers that contribute to the success or failure of collaborative workplaces initiatives aimed at fostering innovation in service companies
This paper contributes to the innovation and knowledge management literature by providing new evidence on the debate on the abilities of workplaces designed as collaborative platforms to support innovation and new ways of working (Moultrie et al 2007; Bitner 1992; McCoy 2005; Kristensen 2004; Parker 2016) in the context of established service companies
Summary
Digital technologies have driven new patterns of collaboration within companies. Today, collaboration does not occur only within clearly defined organizational boundaries. Changes in the communication patterns affect knowledge sharing and innovation processes by leading to the emergence of cross-pollination of ideas between workgroups and to the need for continuous coordination across functions (Hill and Gareth 2009; Fleming 2004; Coradi et al 2015b). In this scenario, established companies are facing major challenges. They are forced to rethink traditional collaboration dynamics and structures, which are rooted in hierarchical and bureaucratic organizational models (Barley and Kunda 2001). This challenge is salient in the context of service businesses, where the focus on customers for new service development implies the need to integrate heterogeneous functions and business units in the value-creation process (Ostrom et al 2010)
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